Yang Chan didn’t plan on cultivating too many self-defense techniques. One Body Technique and one Swordsmanship would be sufficient. Besides, Ox Demon’s Mighty Fist, Tiger Demon Bone-Refining Fist, and Flood Dragon Demon Breath Method also contained corresponding moves that could be used in actual combat.

Cultivating Swordsmanship was a way to protect himself with a weapon. After all, facing an opponent’s sharp blade with his bare hands wasn’t a wise move. The Demon Suppressing Swordsmanship was a complementary Martial Art, more than enough for self-defense.

His proficiency in these two Cultivation Techniques was increasing quickly. If his progress continued to be good, he could invest a few more Potential Points in them as a backup.

Under normal circumstances, the journey to Jade Capital City shouldn’t be dangerous; after all, they would be escorted by an Inner Master for protection. Besides, even if they ran into trouble, he certainly wouldn’t be the first to charge in. Someone else would make the first move, which would already be a worst-case scenario.

’I hope the trip to White Jade City goes smoothly, without any trouble.’

Yang Chan thought to himself.

He didn’t like to cause trouble and always kept a low profile. Under normal circumstances, danger wouldn’t come looking for him. After all, he wasn’t the type to challenge anything and everything, or to meddle in every injustice he witnessed.

Yang Chan had only one attitude: out of sight, out of mind. It was best to avoid seeing such troublesome things in the first place and stay far away from their source.

Staying up past midnight wasn’t a good idea. Yang Chan blew out the candle and went straight to sleep.

...

"Pharmacist Yang, we’re temporarily out of Jacaranda and Perilla Leaf. It looks like preparing the Jade Pills will be delayed by about two days."

Gu Shitong jogged over to Yang Chan’s side to inform him of the situation at the Pharmacy.

Yang Chan’s task for the day was to prepare medicine packs for Jade Pills. These pills were for Strengthening the Foundation and Nourishing the Essence. They were made by decocting the herbs and forming them into pellets. The refining process wasn’t complicated and the difficulty was low, so they weren’t technically considered Elixirs.

Yang Chan took these pills daily, so he was extremely familiar with the preparation process. It was only slightly more difficult than making Qi Nourishing Soup.

"Pharmacist Yang, we’re also out of Cyan Indigo and Bianxia over here."

Han Bingyu came over and reported the situation to Yang Chan.

This was the first time Han Bingyu and the others had prepared Jade Pills. They had never done it with Yang Chan before, so finding the ingredients took them a considerable amount of time, and the search didn’t go smoothly.

Liu Qing and Fang Yun returned to report several other missing ingredients. Yang Chan found this strange. These herbs were usually well-stocked; why were they all unavailable today?

"I’ll go ask what’s going on. In the meantime, you all can start preparing the ingredients for the Qi Nourishing Soup. We’ll make that first."

Yang Chan didn’t suspect the issue was with them, so he gave them a new task. The missing herbs weren’t used in Qi Nourishing Soup, which was generally never out of stock.

He went to the Medicine Preparation Institute and found the Steward.

"Steward Xu, several ingredients like Jacaranda, Perilla Leaf, Cyan Indigo, and Bianxia are all missing today. What’s going on?"

Yang Chan was questioning the Steward in charge of the institute’s Pharmacy.

When it came to anything concerning the various medicines in the Medicine Preparation Institute, the Stewards were the most knowledgeable.

"Jacaranda, Perilla Leaf... oh, now I remember. This morning, Pharmacist Gao Yuanlong said he was going to be refining Elixirs and took all those ingredients. It will be a couple of days before we can get them back in stock."

"If you’re in a rush, Pharmacist Yang, I can have the people down the mountain send them up sooner."

Pharmacist Xu thought for a moment and quickly recalled the incident. Gao Yuanlong had indeed taken quite a large quantity of ingredients that morning. He had supposedly said he was going to refine some sort of High-Level Elixir. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

As an Intermediate Pharmacist, he naturally had the authority to take these ingredients.

Intermediate Pharmacists in the Cyan Yuan Sect receive significant support for refining Elixirs, as the Sect hopes they will succeed.

When using the Sect’s resources, they are required to submit a portion of any successfully refined Elixirs back to the Sect. This serves as both support for the pharmacist and a way for the Sect to profit from the endeavor.

Of course, if the refining attempt fails, that’s another story entirely.

The Cyan Yuan Sect’s support isn’t unlimited; there’s an annual cap. Clearly, this Pharmacist Gao was exercising his privileges.

"No, that’s not necessary. The normal schedule will be fine."

After hearing this, Yang Chan nodded. He went to a Steward of the Medicine Preparation Institute, explained the situation, and switched his assigned task.

Since the ingredients he needed were missing, he had no choice but to prepare a different medicine pack. Yang Chan had already anticipated this.

The process went smoothly. The Steward of the Medicine Preparation Institute didn’t ask any questions and immediately approved the change.

’An Intermediate Pharmacist refining Elixirs... Is he also doing this for a spot in the triennial Pharmacist Exchange Conference?’

The thought surfaced in Yang Chan’s mind. He wasn’t sure if the man was deliberately trying to inconvenience him, nor did he particularly care. Switching tasks wasn’t a hassle.

If the other man managed to take his spot for the Pharmacist Exchange Conference, Yang Chan would actually have to thank him, since it would mean he wouldn’t have to leave the mountain.

For Yang Chan, this was just a minor interruption. After returning, he resumed preparing the Qi Nourishing Soup packs with Han Bingyu and the others.

Preparing these packs was a familiar task for Han Bingyu, Gu Shitong, and the others, so their efficiency was much higher. His original reason for wanting to prepare the Jade Pill packs was to let them get acquainted with other herbs. Only he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he was promoted to Intermediate Pharmacist.

At that point, the medicines he would be preparing would be more difficult, which would in turn demand greater skill from Han Bingyu, Gu Shitong, and his other assistants.

Medicine packs prepared by Intermediate Pharmacists weren’t limited to the 1,253 commonly used herbs; they also included many less common ingredients. If his assistants familiarized themselves with the process now, they would be able to keep up with his pace later on.

If it didn’t work out this time, they could always try again later. This would also give his assistants more time to prepare, allowing them to be of greater help to him in the future.

Preparing the Qi Nourishing Soup packs went very smoothly and efficiently. Having become familiar with the process, practice was truly making perfect.

Now that Han Bingyu was familiar with the entire process, he entrusted the delivery of the medicine packs to her and the others. He was following Xu Gaocen’s example; back then, once Xu Gaocen had finished preparing the packs, he would simply leave, leaving the remaining tasks to Yang Chan and his peers.

Now that he was a Basic Level Pharmacist, he carried on this ’good’ habit, giving Han Bingyu and the others more opportunities. After all, he had come up the same way.

Initially, he would supervise the deliveries himself. It was only after seeing that Han Bingyu was handling it well that he handed the task over to her and the others. It wasn’t that he was being a completely hands-off manager; compared to the Xu Gaocen of the past, he was far more responsible.

With the medicine packs prepared, Yang Chan headed back to his residence. He still had time left in the day and intended to make full use of it. His daily Cultivation could not be neglected.

As the Cyan Yuan Sect’s youngest Inner Master, he was still incredibly diligent. He never missed a single day of his various Cultivation routines, and the steady increase in his mastery of various Cultivation Techniques was the best proof.

This, of course, was an achievement made possible only by his own painstaking ’abilities’.